Folding chairs have long been the standard for most forms of mass seating. Whether it be the theater, a sporting event, a stage event or a lecture hall, spring-loaded folding seats where the base cushion/seat is urged upwards when the participant is not seated has become the standard throughout the world. That popularity is logical: folding seats enable large numbers of people to be packed into a relatively tight space and yet have sufficient comfort to keep people seated for long periods of time. A drawback to folding seats is that they do not permit for easy storage of various personal items, programs, etc. Instead, such items often end up on laps, in the aisles, or require the use of a remote locker. Such alternative obviously add inconvenience and cost. Moreover, existing designs fail to address the inherent danger from providing storage that readily conceals content. For example, in stationary chairs, such as those commonly used in schools, a basket can be provided under the legs of the chair for storage of books, etc. Such an arrangement in a folding chair would render the chair inoperable or largely inconvenient from a storage standpoint.
To overcome such drawbacks, there have been over the years, attempts to provide a storage alternative. Indeed, a number of these attempted solutions have also been patented. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,288 to Raffensperger discloses a portable seat cushion and storage device that can be attached to a folding chair. VELCRO.RTM. hook and loop fasteners are employed to releasably attach the cushion storage member to the seat. A disadvantage of Raffensperger, however, is that it requires installation by the user, and it is not plausibly used for permanent storage. Further, to use this arrangement requires a fairly involved operation where the user has to wrap the device around the seat, hold the storage unit to the bottom of the seat and then reconnect the cushion to the storage device from the back of the seat. In a mass seating situation, that amount of work can easily cause traffic jams.
Another much simpler arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,712 to Drelick. The Drelick patent discloses a closable storage container for removable attachment to the bottom of a stadium seat. The Drelick container is suspended below the seat when in use and is held to the seat by means of a strap (much like a strap for a pocketbook). However, Drelick provides a construction which must be removed from the stadium by the user. If forgotten, valuable articles may be left behind. Moreover, the container in Drelick is effectively shaped like a box which does not yield when objects larger than the dimensions of the box are placed in the container. Finally, there is no ability for the user to see into the Drelick storage compartment. Thus, items could be easily left behind.
Another patent of some interest is U.S. Pat. No. 1,829,486 to Kimbrig, et al. Kimbrig appears to disclose pivotal theater seats combined with rope mesh containers positioned underneath those seats for storing articles. In Kimbrig, a fabric mesh is attached to the seat by means of a metal frame. However, the unit is not removable or portable by a user or stadium attendant.
Finally, there are a number of storage devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,854,637, 4,521,637, 4,131,313, 3,151,909 and 2,865,433 which are designed to be foldable and act as both seat and storage device. Most of these devices, however, provide envelopes or pockets which are located at the front of the seat. Thus, these pockets may cause some seating discomfort, may be awkward to use, and may result in articles dropping out of the pockets if the person using the seat moves his or her legs the wrong way.
Finally, in addition to the above-noted deficiencies, several other problems exist with respect to under seat storage that are not met by the above-noted references. First, there is a lack in the art of under seat storage devices that can be permanently fixed to the bottom of the seat, yet are readily removable. Additionally, there is no available under-seat storage devices which (1) are readily expandable depending on the amount of material provided therein; (2)) can be permanently or semi-permanently installed quickly and inexpensively; (3) are designed with flexible materials, thus making the storage units applicable to any type of surface material such as a roughened surface, as well as contour, whether it be planar, curved or angular; (4) are transparent so as to provide the user with access to information such as advertising or promotions; (5) are easily cleaned out by a hose without requiring any additional operations by stadium crews; (6) are usable in spite of inclement weather and (7) include a pocket which is either clear or has a window and which is either separately releasable or permanently affixed to the storage container, such pocket permitting the display of materials contained therein, such as promotions, programs, samples, etc.. Moreover, the flexible material can be adhered to such surface through one of a variety of attaching means, making installation highly inexpensive and easy to accomplish. Finally, there is a need in the art for a seat storage device that can be made inexpensively and can also allow printing or embossing thereon by advertisers, stadium or theater authorities, or others.